Formula One (& Fleetwood Mac) Is Back On BBC

Still of Liquid TV’s new BBC Formula One title sequence / onscreen branding
Die-hard Formula One fans will have been up early yesterday to watch the first event of the new season, the Australian Grand Prix which was broadcast on BBC – after several years of exclusive ITV coverage in the UK. Instead of the usual flurry of checquered flags, stock footage of races gone by, and dodgy photography of pit girls and racing drivers, the BBC’s new title sequence (created by Liquid TV) is a mainly CG affair that looks to have been inspired by high octane video games and movie car chases. And, perhaps most reassuringly of all, the new title sequence and on screen branding is accompanied by the tune the BBC has used for previous Formula One coverage: Fleetwood Mac’s ridiculously catchy tune, The Chain – the bassline of which, no doubt, F1 fans all over Britain are now humming incessantly. Click through to see the new title sequence…

Die-hard Formula One fans will have been up early yesterday to watch the first event of the new season, the Australian Grand Prix which was broadcast on BBC – after several years of exclusive ITV coverage in the UK. Instead of the usual flurry of chequered flags, stock footage of races gone by, and dodgy photography of pit girls and racing drivers, the BBC’s new title sequence (created by Liquid TV) is a mainly CG affair that looks to have been inspired by high octane video games and movie car chases. And, perhaps most reassuringly of all, the new title sequence and on screen branding is accompanied by the tune the BBC has used for previous Formula One coverage: Fleetwood Mac’s ridiculously catchy tune, The Chain – the bassline of which, no doubt, F1 fans all over Britain are now humming incessantly.

“Specially filmed footage shot on redcam was combined with original CGI created in Maya and rendered using HDRI (high dynamic range imaging) techniques,” Liquid TV tells us. “Over 40 shots were composited with sometimes up to 20 separate layers. The sequence was exhaustively pre-vized before any high resolution work was commenced to ensure maximum drama and narrative flow. Filmic constraints were used, inspired by car chase action movies to evolve a credible race sequence.”

More from CR

Honda’s brand new Let It Shine commercial, shot by Erik van Wyk through Bouffant breaks today. Written by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, the spot features a vast grid of Honda’s new Insight model parked in the desert. The Insight is, the voiceover tells us, Honda’s new, “affordable hybrid” car. In the spot, each of the cars’ headlights act as pixels to perform an animated sequence. Click Read More to view the ad and also W+K’s making-of film…

Inspired by photographs of “homes, holidays, family, soldiers, events of wonder and the plain ordinary” which he found in a thrift store in Philadelphia, illustrator Nigel Peake has published a book showcasing dozens of his drawings of old, abandoned, sometimes dilapidated and even collapsed houses

Justice’s latest video, for track dvno, marks a return to the graphic styling that appeared in the band’s previous promo for d.a.n.c.e, a film that saw directors Jonas and Francois walk away with the best video gong at last year’s mtv Europe Music Awards

I’m Flying headset design by Rodshakur, inspired by R Kelly’s track I Believe I Can Fly
Last year Wieden + Kennedy London launched the Nokia Music Almighty Headset Competition, which invited entrants to design a Nokia Bluetooth headset, inspired by their favourite piece of music. The winning designs have now all been made into fully functioning headsets, some of which are more wearable than others…